Chrissy's Trip to Australia -- Part Two

After saying goodbye to Geoff and Jen, Chrissy and I flew into Hamilton Island Airport, located on an island just off the mainland of Australia. After we landed, we took a 45 minute ferry ride over to the mainland, to a town called Airlie Beach where we were staying. We were staying at a hostel in the town area, so a bus picked us up from the marina and drove us to the hostel. We spent a majority of our time in Airlie at the lagoon. The lagoon is a man-made pool that resembles a beach. It is surrounded by sand, and has a gradual entrance into the water. Swimming is not allowed off of Airlie because of a deadly type of jellyfish that swims in the north eastern coastal waters. The first day we were in Airlie, we didn’t arrive in the area until afternoon, so we spent the little time we had left of that day at the lagoon, until it got too cold and we headed back to the hostel. We used the hostel kitchen to live off toast and jam and nutella all week, so of course, that’s what we had for dinner. The first night, we were pretty tired from traveling and decided to just hang out around the hostel and have a few beers.

Airlie Beach

The second day we spent pretty much the entire day at the lagoon. It was a really nice day out, so we had no issues spending the day laying out in the sun. We finally got a little sick of eating nothing but bread and nutella since we left for Sydney, so we stopped at the supermarket and bought some ramen! Haha, much more exciting, right? We spent the afternoon trying to plan a day trip for the following day. The Whitsunday Islands are a group of 70 islands, and one of their biggest tourists draws are sailing trips that go out and tour a few islands for a couple days. These trips are pretty pricey, so Chrissy and I decided to make a day trip out of it, rather than 3 days. We picked out a trip and then went back to the lagoon until the sunset. That evening we met a bunch of people who were staying at the hostel, and hung out with them all night. We met people from all over who were traveling up the coast, and we had a blast hearing all of their stories. We met people from Denmark, England, Canada, Sweden, and Germany. Although we had all just met, it felt like we were instantly friends. As a group, we went down to a bar called Phoenix to celebrate one of Canadian girls birthdays!

The next morning was our day trip. We woke up at 7 am to get our things together, eat some breakfast in the hostel kitchen, and get to the stop to catch our bus. The bus picked us up at 7:45, and we headed down to Abel Marina to start our day. We were taking a catamaran around three different islands within the Whitsunday Islands. While traveling to our first stop, we were given coffee or tea and a morning snack. It took us about 45 minutes to get to Hook Island. At each island, the tour had different things planned. While at Hook Island, we stood on the pier and watched the staff throw bread to feed the fish, and then hopped on a glass bottom boat to see some coral. It was a bit hard to see out of boat, but we were able to get some really cool glimpses of the coral. We then got back on to our catamaran and drove to another part of Hook Island, where we were able to snorkel. This snorkeling was a bit different to my trip out to the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns at the beginning of my trip. The coral wasn’t as bright, but there were instructors on little boats driving around, throwing out food all around us so that tons of fish would be swarming us. It was so cool! They even gave us bread to hold to feed the fish under the water.

Hook Island

After snorkeling we got back on the boat and headed to our second stop, Whitehaven Beach which is on Whitsunday Island. Whitehaven Beach has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The sand is nearly pure white silica, and the beach stretches about 7km. The water is so incredibly blue and the sand so white, it’s absolutely amazing. While on our way, we were served a really great buffet lunch, with amazing fruits. When we arrived at Whitehaven Beach, we were given a few hours to just relax on the beach. Chrissy and I had a lot of fun taking silly model pictures and playing with the soft sand, we barely even laid out in the sun!

Whitehaven Beach

Our third stop was at Daydream Island. This was our stop to enjoy a really great resort that takes up almost the entire island. This resort is also home to some of the largest man-made coral reefs in the world. They had these little salt water ponds full of coral, fish, sting rays and a few sharks. Chrissy ordered a drink, and we layed out by the pool, walked around the resort, and checked out the reef ponds. After an hour or so, we all loaded back onto our bus and went back to the marina.

Daydream Island

The next day we had almost the entire day before we had to catch our flight at 6 pm. We checked out of our hostel and went to lay next to the bay where all the sailboats were. Chrissy and I both fell asleep, and by the time we woke up, we only had time for lunch before we had to get to the bus stop to head to the airport. We flew out of a local airport which was incredibly small, two gates in all, and finally made it back to Brisbane after a full, exhausting week of traveling.

Part Three Soon!

Chrissy's Trip to Australia -- Part One

My best friend from growing up, Chrissy, came to visit me in Australia! Except… well, she arrived 6 weeks ago. That is how far behind in my blog I am.

When I first started my Australia blog, I couldn’t wait to write in it and tell everyone all about what I have been doing, but after I grew to become so comfortable here, I almost forgot about keeping everyone updated. First it was last minute assignments before Chrissy came, then finals, and now I have been focusing on enjoying my time here, as I leave in three weeks. All but two other Americans are left in the building, so I have spent all of my time hanging out with all of my friends before they have headed back to their home states.

So, Mikey and I picked Chrissy up from the airport on May 19. The first day she was here, we wandered around the city where Chrissy ate her first sushi roll, and then went to Uni, where I turned in my final assignment of the semester! We went on a walk through the Botanic Gardens next to campus. Once back to the apts, we took a nap and chilled the rest of the day and got ready to leave for Sydney!

Trip to Sydney:
Geoff, Jen, Chrissy and I were off to Sydney! We stayed in Haymarket, which is right near China Town, and 10 minutes from Darling Harbour. After arriving at our hotel, we went off to explore Darling Harbour. Jessica Watson, the 16 year old Australian girl who sailed solo around the world, had her boat docked in the Harbour, so we were able to see that. The boat was so much smaller than I expected, and painted bright pink! We walked across the Pymont Bridge to the other side of Cockle Bar, where the aquarium is located. We hopped on the ferry and took it over to the Sydney Opera House, passing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took lots of pictures of the Opera House, and somehow got into the Opera House and explored a little. After the Opera House, we walked over to the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was absolutely beautiful, so we chilled out for a while. We started walking back through the Gardens, and then walked through Hyde Park, stopping at an ANZAC memorial near the Pool of Reflection. Nothing too exciting the rest of the day, except it was my first experience with How I Met Your Mother. After a few episodes of Season 1 that Geoff had, Jen, Chrissy and I were hooked! We sat in our beds and watched SO many episodes of HIMYM! Chrissy and I got ready to go out, but by midnight, we were still sitting in the apt talking with Jen, so we just stepped out for like half an hour (only because we had gotten ready) and then went to sleep!

Chrissy and I in Darling Harbour with the city in the background


The Sydney Opera House

Sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The next morning Geoff left before we all had woken up because he wanted to do the Harbour Bridge Climb. It was a little pricey, so the rest of us opted out. Jen, Chrissy and I decided to go to ‘The Rocks’, which is a really old part of Sydney with old, Italian looking buildings and cobbled streets. We went to Circular Quay, and then went to The Rocks markets. After deciding we wanted to walk across the pedestrian part of the bridge (not the ‘Bridge Climb’ over the arch), we ended up getting incredibly lost trying to find the entrance and ended up on the side of a random highway, where it ended up pouring rain on us. We ducked for cover on a set of stairs and ate some lunch, and then left to meet up with Geoff who had finished his bridge climb. We met up with him at the Observatory and then walked over to the Opera House. We all really wanted to see a show in the Opera House, so we looked into tickets and decided to go see the Sydney Symphony perform Mahler 5. We all went back to the hotel to get ready, and then took the train to the Opera House, where we watched the most amazing Symphony. The Opera House was gorgeous inside, and even though they didn’t allow photography, I snuck a few shots! After the show was done, it was freezing and raining, so we decided to just go out for a bit. We had drinks at Three Monkeys, a bar near our hotel, and then headed back to the apartments.

'The Rocks'- a historic part of Sydney

The City

Inside the Sydney Opera House

The third day in Sydney was definitely the best day. Geoff and Jen woke up extra early to go pick up a rental car, and we headed towards the Blue Mountains, which is a mountainous region just outside of the Sydney metropolitan area. It consists mainly of sandstone plateaus, and was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Words cannot possibly describe how incredible the sites were. Before we made it to the Blue Mountains, we stopped at the Sydney Olympic Park to look around. It was so cool to be surrounded by these incredible stadiums where some of the world's best athletes have been! After leaving there, we spent the whole day driving the Blue Mountain roads, and after an amazing day, headed back to the hotel.

ANZ Stadium- The Largest Stadium Sydney Olympic Park

The Blue Mountains region- 'Three Sisters'

My Homies

The next morning we drove to the airport. Jen and Geoff were heading back to Brisbane, and Chrissy and I were heading north to the Whitsunday Islands. Our flight was a bit after there’s, so after saying our goodbyes to them, we waited at our gate and then took off to the Whitsundays!

Part Two coming soon!

It's a BOY!

I received the most amazing gift in the world while I have been in Australia.
A sweet baby nephew.

My sister was induced due to high blood pressure, and was lucky to only be in labor for 9 hours before giving birth to a sweet baby boy.

Jackson Jeffrey Kerg
Born June 15
21'' long. 7 lb 11 oz.

Our First Skype Session :)

Grandma and Baby

Beautiful :)

Wearing the kangaroo booties his aunty Dani bought for him :)

A beautiful family :)

I haven't even met him and I love him already :) So excited to meet the little monkey when I get home!!

Home Away From Home: Southbank Campus Apartments

I have officially been in Australia for 4 months, with zero internet in my room. None of my loves from America have seen any further than Apartment 603-- Vince, Mikey and Geoff's Room, as there apartment is the only place I have been able to use internet to Skype and show the place off. Therefore, this photo blog is the best I can do. Most of these photos are stolen from the lovely Geoff Goral. His photography skills are killer so I have taken the liberty to just steal them without permission. =]
Oh, and I also stole some of his captions. Because I should be writing a paper. and I am lazy. So please, credit this whole blog as if Geoff wrote it. Because that's basically what is happening right now. Anything in quotes was written by him :) THANKS GEOFF for helping me be a lazy butt by already doing this blog. :)

The lovely Southbank Campus Apartments. Where each and every one of my lovely friends live <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiyZ3v0HAqqZFi4UQmO0P-vOiT0d6F0R_r4QrTagyUrKRi3rOqbCWB4_cxBdtVeEoddosYYMvxudTnDTnXJ0ns1CqbyaperpzOOTkrUnxXnDa5MWww9VnmO_o8rRU2bhk_M7esSItdPLM/s1600/DSC_6375.jpg">The third floor has a deck with a pool overlooking the William Jolly Bridge and the Brisbane CBD. It has BBQs and tables, and it's pretty common for us to spend time out there. Whether it's the middle of the day and we are just jumping in a swim, or we have gotten all dolled up to go out and enjoy a few rooftop drinks, the deck is one of my favorite things here. We are able to put
speakers out of my friend Daniel's apartment windows to listen to music while we enjoy our time socializing!


"Our apartments are set just across the street from the Cultural Center, which is comprised of the Modern Art Museum, State Library, Natural History Museum, and the Performing Arts Center. This whole complex is set on the south side of the river, alongside the boardwalk and Streets Beach. To get to the city it take about a 10 minute walk across any one of the bridges that go over the river. After that it’s about 10 more minutes to get to campus or “Uni” as they
say here."


























Counter clockwise from top left: Our game room and lounge, laundry room where they charge $3 a load, The Joint; our coffee shop at the corner of our building. And finally, the lobby.

Now. For my REAL home away from home...
Welcome to 603, the messiest, busiest, funnest, most frustrating room in the place. This is NOT where I live, well, not technically at least. I live in 203, which is 4 floors below this wonderful place. People come and go all day long as they please. It is more common to find more people who DO NOT live in this apartment than it is to find those who DO. The guys always leave a flip flop in the door when they leave, giving me liberty to waltz up there whenever I please. They always come home to find people hanging out who don't live there. They also play host to all our friends, and THEREFORE, their apartment is in a constant state of post-get-together conditions, meaning dirty dishes, trash, and random belongings. But we know how the Aussies operate: no worries mate! But seriously.. this place can get DISGUSTING.

There’s a reason the beds are out on the floor. We often have slumber parties where up to a dozen people will just bring mattresses, blankets, and pillows, and we’ll watch movies together all night. These photos were taken after one such event.

They have a really nice balcony that overlooks the city. Love <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvcHjjgDXxFQgovWNLt6xBZJ7WJDgXP11-AJaOCDr2p3769UKAU1b3SfZAaWbO8EbnkMmbIIpIf3IkwsnZIgJdYBSUMTRBn1dOIY_M_ap1U_PPLw1iOt0rop1jQ3If5cyVrJlyog8CcQ/s1600/DSC_6278.jpg">
Oh, yeah, and then there is my apartment. It is super clean. and I am never in it. Except my room, which I am in a lot. Here are pictures :)

My bedroom. My desk. The living room. The kitchen. The balcony. View from the balcony (lame).

Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)

Trip to Noosa

A few weekends back, pretty much all of SBCA (a group of 17 of us) took a trip to Noosa, a coastal town a couple hours North of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast region. We took the train to Nambour, and hopped on a bus to Noosa, making a pit stop at the Eumundi Markets. The Eumundi Markets are fairly famous bi weekly farmers markets in the town of Eumundi. The markets were full of fresh produce, clothing, jewelry, and all that fun stuff. I don't think I have ever seen so many booths in my life.


After leaving Eumundi, we headed to Noosa and went straight to the beach, and then checked into our hotel. The hotel was nothing like I expected-- it was SO nice. It was two levels plus a loft, 2 bedrooms, laundry, 3 TVS, and a full kitchen. It was such a relief after sleeping in nothing but hostels when traveling! After we checked in, we went back to Main Beach and hung out for a bit, and then headed back to the hotel again, stopping by Dominos to pick up some pizza! We had a little family dinner (Megan, Geoff, Mikey and I) and then Hagen and Kagan came over to use our kitchen, along with Jen.

It was originally just 5 of us staying in the hotel, but after an issue for a bunch of the other Americans at another hostel, everyone but 5 people ended up staying in our hotel. Because we had everyone right there, we all decided it would be better to just stay in and hang out at the hotel, and we made use out of the pool, sauna and hot tub facilities at the hotel!

The following day we had to check out, as we were only staying the night. We headed to Sunshine Beach, another beach a few bus stops down from Main Beach. I think most of us enjoyed this beach a bit better than the first day, as it was much less crowded. The whole group spent a few hours just laying on the beach and chatting, and around 3 pm, Geoff, Megan, Mikey and I headed to the bus stop. We ended up getting to the train station just a few minutes before our train left to head back to Brisbane, so it worked out perfectly. The train we caught was the nicest train ever! Or I suppose, just much nicer than anything we were used to. We were able to spread out in really comfortable swiveling chairs and relax on our train ride back home :)

Noosa is one of my favorite places I have visited so far. It was much more chill and much less touristy than most of the places I have been. We all had wished we had given ourselves one more day to spend there, rather than just staying one night.

Noosaville.

Mikey and Megan in a cubby space in our hotel room.

Mikey and Geoff attempting to catch fish with their hands.

Megan. Mikey.

Sunshine Beach.

Sunset on Main Beach.


Sailboat.

Megan enjoying a redbear on our fancy train back to Brisbane.


xx

AFL Game

Mikey’s family came to visit two weekends ago to celebrate his birthday, and I was able to meet them all! His mom, dad, and two brothers came, with his youngest one, Scott, staying at the apartments with us. It was so much fun meeting them all. Because Mikey’s brother was here, a group of us decided to go see an AFL game -- Austrian Football League. Australian rules football, or ‘footy’ is a game I still don’t quite understand. It is a bit of a mix of soccer and football. The players can kick, throw, bounce or run with the ball, and to score, it is thrown through a smaller sized goal post. The game was the Brisbane Lions vs. the Western Bulldogs, and it was such a blast. After the game was over, Scott bought an AFL ball, and everyone was allowed to run on the field and play for a bit.

The Gabba-- where the Brisbane Lions play.

Geoff. Scott. Mikey in the stands.

AFL.

Bahahaha.

AFL.

A bunch of fans out on the field after the game.

Mikey and Scott wrestling on the field.

Geoff. Aliey.

Mikey. Geoff. Aliey.

The Crew.

Geoff. Aliey. Donny. Lauren. Amy. Lisa. Me. Val. Jen. Kagan. Hagen.

xx